Good Food, Gluten Free

I’ve already breached the subject of my dislike for chopping veggies. Well, I’m about to share more of my distaste for cooking-type activities in this post. For someone who loves food so much, it seems like I don’t enjoy preparing it. But I do! I just wish I had a sous-chef. 🙂

The plan for dinner tonight was chicken enchiladas. Not one to stray too far from my plan, I went ahead with the idea. I did it even though I realized (a little too late), that I have another Mexican dish planned for tomorrow…and I’ve done nothing but prep spicy foods for days?? Oh well, go with the cravings right?

Gluten-Free Chicken Spinach Enchiladas

1 c. chopped onions

1/2 tsp. diced garlic

3-4 chicken breasts cut into strips or chunks

1/2 cup spinach (frozen or wilted)

1 cup pico de gallo

10 – 8″ corn tortillas

1 – 12 oz. can low sodium V8

1 tbsp. cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3/4 cups sour cream (or greek yogurt)

2 cups shredded cheese

1 tsp. canola oil or can/spritzer of canola oil

salt and pepper to taste to season chicken

Into a skillet went about 1 cup of chopped onions along with 1/2 tsp. diced garlic (I used the organic jar kind). You did not see me dice these onions on my veggie chopping day, you say? No, I did not dice these onions on Friday! BUT I didn’t buy them either! I actually diced a ton of white, red, and yellow onion a couple months ago and froze it for times such as this. Yeah. I know. I’m strange…Just wait. It gets weirder.

What in the world?

Chicken breasts cut into strips. Like veggies, I try to get my protein prep taken care of before I need it. (Ok. I confess I didn’t cut these strips, my mother totally cut them for me when she came to visit. I’m a little chicken paranoid due to my fear of germs. I do, however, prep the proteins prior to the work week. Look at that alliteration…and I’m not even an English teacher!)

These strips were sliced and ready so I just had to grab them from the fridge. The plan is so simple that Drew even starts dinner on nights I work late thanks to color coding. I have white, polka dot, yellow, striped, and blue. Each day gets a color that way there’s no chance that chicken “nuggets” can be confused with chicken “strips”.

Cook the chicken thoroughly in the skillet with the onion, garlic, and some salt and pepper.

Once cooked, add in some spinach! I used 1/2 cup frozen organic spinach that I pre-thawed.

On top of the spinach I dropped 1 cup pico de gallo. I used store bought, but I could have just as easily made my own. That would require chopping veggies though…and we know how I feel about that.

Let everything cook up and when you’re done you have this beautiful pan of enchilada filling, and if you’re anything like me a messy stovetop as well. 🙂

While the filling cools slightly, I prep the pan. I use a 9″x13″ pan, and preheat my oven to 375 degrees. You’ll also need between 10 and 14 – 8″ corn tortillas (the number depends on how full you want them), about 3/4 cup sour cream (if you like it) and also 2 cups shredded cheese.

First, I use a little canola oil to grease the pan:

Then per every enchilada I plan to wrap, I add 1 tbsp. of enchilada sauce to the bottom. (In this case I was going to do 10 wraps, so 10 tbsp.) My enchilada sauce is simple. I heat 1 can low sodium-V8 along with 1 tbsp. cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes, and 1/2 tsp. black pepper. I’m lazy, and I’d rather not start from scratch…

Spread it around.

Then prepare to roll some enchiladas! I use 1 tbsp. sour cream, 2 tbsp. shredded cheese, and a scoop of the chicken mix in each corn tortilla. Roll the two edges in and put the tortilla seam down into the pan. I’m bad at this. Pour the remaining sauce on top and do the same with the remaining cheese.

Yes. We buy cheese in bulk. Yes. Only 2 people live in this household.

I said it tastes good. I never said it would be pretty. Bake covered for 30 minutes then uncovered for 30 more.

Ta-Da!! Yeah, I know. Still not pretty. It is delicious, however. 🙂

Since I’m lazy organized, a second meal prep I got accomplished today was for tomorrow’s Mexican style shredded beef. Full disclosure on the recipe later, but it starts with a flank steak (maybe 1.5 lbs?), some celery and carrots (precut from Friday), and ONION. What?!?! How did I forget to cut the dang onion for this??

I added the onion, decided I was too angry to take a picture, dropped the flank steak into the pot and covered the veggies with some good old H2O. Simmer until it will shred with a fork. Save until tomorrow’s post. Yeah. I’m still mad about the onion.

So what’s the verdict? Am I lazy? I kind of think so…just a little. But I’m okay with that!

I’m still feeling under the weather, but I am in a good mood anyway. The husband broke out a new stash of fun things for me which included these:

Yes. Ticonderoga could very well be the world’s best pencil. Drew has a pretty cool job in the fact that sometimes his company cleans out offices of tenants that have moved out (he’s a property manager). What that means for me, as a school teacher, is that I always have fun new toys (like pens/pencils, scissors, hole punches, etc.) to stash in my weird, hoarder-like box of school supplies take to school. One man’s trash is a teacher’s treasure. 🙂

when you can’t smell! I’ve been a little under the weather for the past few days. I can tell my body has been trying hard to fight off a little bug, but it finally got me good yesterday. I’m not a big fan of taking a ton of medications. However, when I could barely breathe or swallow yesterday I decided if there was a time to take something, yesterday was it.

I had been holding on to a coupon for a couple dollars off of Vick’s Nature Fusion for cold and flu. I thought it would be the perfect time to give it a go. I sent Drew, with coupon stapled to his shirt sleeve (just kidding), a picture of the stuff, and a precise written description of where he should go/what he should look for, and was pleasantly surprised when he came home with not only the correct medication, but a new box of Fruity Pebbles as well.

Yay! I always want kiddie junk food when I’m sick, and it makes me happy that this favorite of mine is gf.

So we all know I was happy with the cereal, but I am surprised to admit that I was pleased with the cold medication as well. I was first surprised by the declaration of it’s “gluten-freedom” right on the front of the package. Secondly, I was impressed by how well it worked. My headache, fever, lack nostril breating, sore throat, and body aches all subsided an hour or so into the dose. It also tasted like honey before I swallowed the pills down with some water. A pleasant experience overall…as pleasant as one can be when you’re sick at least.

BTW Not sure if I really need to say this, but I wasn’t asked by Vick’s or anyone else to rate this product, and I’m also in no way affiliated with them. In fact, I was really never a fan of the company until I tried this stuff…So. Yeah. Buy it. Unless you’re not sick. Then you can buy it just in case you ever do get sick. Or maybe that’s just asking to get sick…preparing for it before you are sick? I don’t know, but I do think you can download a coupon for $4.00 off. Yeah. I tend to buy things I don’t want or otherwise need just because I have a coupon. I don’t recommend it.

Now that I think about it, I’m rambling, and because I’m sick I’ll blame it on the sickness. Or maybe I should blame it on the medication. Yeah…on second thought, don’t buy it unless you’re sick. And if you take it, don’t blog (just in case it is the fault of the Vick’s).